


At the Beginning with You

by mcgarrygirl78



Series: Crazy Love [2]
Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Friendship, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-10
Updated: 2014-10-10
Packaged: 2018-02-20 16:39:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2435645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcgarrygirl78/pseuds/mcgarrygirl78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He was done with girls though…he was done with girls for the rest of eternity plus 25 years for good measure.</p>
            </blockquote>





	At the Beginning with You

**Author's Note:**

> This story is told in the **Thicker than Water** universe where the BAU are kids and teens. I think this pairing might be here to stay and that’s cool cuz I want to explore them.

It started with passing notes. Hotch didn’t think he’d ever passed a note in his life but one snowy afternoon a folded piece of paper ended up in front of him. He looked around the room. There were only seventeen people in his class and his teacher, Don (all the faculty went by their first name, which made Hotch uncomfortable) stood up front droning on about Othello. It was an amazing play but he had a way of making it sleep-inducing. After looking around a few more times, Hotch opened the note. ‘ _Sometimes I imagine a pack of ravenous coyotes break into the room and tear him limb from limb. Is that bad? Megan_ ’.

There was only one Megan in his class. Megan Kane sat in front of him. She transferred in from St. Anne’s last year. He didn’t know much about her except she had a slight Southern drawl; Emily said she thought it might be from Texas. She had blonde hair and light brown eyes with flecks of green. She didn’t smile much but there was always a beautiful curiosity on her face.

Actually, it seemed more like controlled disdain but it still wasn’t ugly. Hotch could admit that he’d caught himself looking at her in the cafeteria, during Algebra II, or in American History class. He was done with girls though…he was done with girls for the rest of eternity plus 25 years for good measure. Still, done with girls and all, he tore a piece of paper from the bottom of his spiral notebook and scribbled a response. ‘ _Probably, but I have a pretty strong stomach. Aaron_ ’.

He folded it into a square. Pretending to cough, he leaned forward to tap her. She just reached her palm back and took the note. The note passing went on for three weeks. It seemed as if that was their only mode of communication. They never spoke in English class or any other class.

When he saw her in the hallway she would look at him as if they shared a secret. Hotch started saving all of her notes in a shoebox. He would read them at night and think about her. It was amazing what you could learn about someone in 45 minutes on little squares. It started with making fun of their teacher and other silly school musings. Soon it branched out to talking about themselves.

They were getting to know each other better through notes but Hotch began to want more. Of course he had no idea how to do it. Talking to girls had never been his strong suit. He was shy and often found himself tongue tied. It had taken forever and two pep talks from Jason and Emily to ask Haley out. Luckily she just said yes. He had no idea what he’d do if she turned him down.

Now he was facing the same dilemma as January turned into February. As luck would have it, if Hotch believed in luck, the whole thing fell into his lap. He needed air one day close to the end of gym class so he went out of the side door. It was freezing outside and Hotch only wore sweats and his green Georgetown Day Phys Ed tee shirt. He shivered but took a deep breath.

“You should be wearing a jacket.” A voice said. “You might catch cold.”

Hotch froze and it had nothing to do with the weather. He turned and looked at Megan. She was smoking a cigarette by the dumpster. It was a classic cliché movie moment. Hotch was disappointed to see her doing something like that. Still, he was too cold to play cancer cop right now.

“I only came out for a second.” It was the first time he’d spoken to her. How strange was that since he knew that yellow was her favorite color and that when she died she wanted her ashes scattered at the Pacific Ocean because she was happy there once. “It was hot in the gym.”

She nodded but didn’t seem to be interested in carrying on a conversation. Maybe she liked him better on little pieces of paper. Well, the pieces of paper were getting bigger. Hotch would just have to take the chance now, it might be the only one he had. If Megan rejected him it would hurt but he was ready to move past notes.

“Can I take you out on a date sometime?” he asked.

“Sure.” her reply was noncommittal.

“Great.” He grinned. “I was thinking…”

“I gotta go.” Megan flicked the cigarette away and started walking away. “See ya later, Aaron Hotchner.”

He wanted to stop her. Hotch had no idea what just happened. She’d said yes to a date, which was awesome. But then she walked away from him. There wouldn’t be a chance to talk to her again until tomorrow in English class. He was unsure if it should be done by note or if he should just open his mouth. Hotch didn’t have time to think about it. He rushed back inside before he froze to death.

***

“What’s up?”

“Hmm?” Hotch looked up from his Algebra II homework. Jason was standing in his doorway wearing a friendly smile.

“Are you alright? You seemed distracted all through dinner. You’ve actually been distracted for a few days. Is there anything I can do to help?”

“I asked out a girl.” Hotch replied.

“That’s a good thing…right?”

“I think so. We’ve been passing notes back and forth for about three weeks. It began so randomly and then suddenly turned into this thing that I was used to. I want to get to know her better; notes are a bit strange. So I actually saw her today and talked to her. I asked her out and she said sure. But before I could say anything else she just walked away.”

“Well that’s strange.” Jason said.

“To say the least.”

“Still, she said yes so that’s something to smile about.”

Hotch would smile if and when they actually went out. Their first conversation was weird while all their notes had been effortless. He sighed; it might not be meant to be. It wouldn’t be the first time something was beautiful on paper with disastrous results in real life. Communism and _Cop Rock_ were the first things that popped into Hotch’s head.

“Yo Hotch!” Derek called from his room.

“Yeah?”

“The telephone is for you!”

“I didn’t hear it ring.” He said.

“That’s cuz I was on it.” Derek replied. “But since girls never call you I thought I’d be polite.”

“A girl’s on the phone?” Hotch asked.

“Pick up the phone, dude.”

“Go on.” Jason said. “I’ll leave you to it.”

Hotch nodded, getting up from his desk and walking over to his bed. He picked up the phone not really knowing what to expect. Girls didn’t call him; no one did really. He cleared his throat.

“Hello.”

“What's your favorite Beatles song?” the voice asked.

He instantly recognized the voice and a huge, goofy grin broke out across his face. How had she gotten his phone number?

“Um, _In My Life_ I think.” He replied. “What's yours?”

“I'm not sure I have one. I like the one about Desmond and Molly Jones.”

“It’s called _Ob La Di Ob La Da_.”

“Yeah, I like that one. I also like your voice on the telephone.”

“How did you get my phone number?” Hotch asked.

“A lady doesn’t reveal her secrets. It’s unbecoming for a man to ask.”

“Oh. I'm sorry.”

“It’s OK.” She laughed. “Is it OK that I called?”

“It’s fine. So, do you want to get together soon?”

“I'd like that, as long as we don’t go to a movie. I like them but you can't talk during a movie. I want to talk to you.”

“What do you want to talk about?” he asked.

“I honestly don’t care…I just want to talk.”

“OK.” Hotch nodded. “We can go and grab a bite to eat or something. Do you live in DC?”

“Yes.”

“Have you ever been to the Georgetown Diner?”

“I've been there once or twice.” Megan said.

“Great, we’ll go there then. They have a jukebox and it has great songs.”

“OK. I should probably let you go. There's so much homework to do; it never ends.”

“Tell me about it. And those History papers are due in two weeks. What subject did you pick?”

“I'm writing about the American Communist Movement. I've gotten lots of books and articles from the library but haven’t written anything. I prefer the grace under pressure method. It’s worked for me all these years.”

“Where are you from?” Hotch asked. “All the questions I've asked and I never asked that. Your accent is…”

“Obnoxious.” She said laughing.

“That wasn’t what I was going to say.”

“Well, I was born in San Antonio, Texas and lived there until I was four. Then my family moved to Dallas and I lived there until right before high school started.”

“Why did you move to DC?” Hotch asked.

“I didn’t have much choice in the matter. It’s a long, sad, angry story. I don’t want to talk about that tonight. I'm gonna go and we’ll talk tomorrow.”

“OK. Goodnight, Megan.”

“Goodnight, Aaron Hotchner.”

He waited until he heard the soft click of her hanging up before he did the same. Then he lay back on his bed and let his thoughts run wild. Hotch had no idea what had just happened or what had been happening for the past three and a half weeks. Megan led and he followed from the word go. That wasn’t horrible but he wanted to try to get on even ground.

He wanted to know why she talked to him in the first place. Hotch had so many more questions than answers where Megan Kane was concerned. His latest question was how she got his telephone number. He needed to finish his Algebra homework and read at least one more chapter of _Tarzan of the Apes_ before bed.

Knowing that, Hotch went to his bookshelf and grabbed the shoebox. He didn’t like not having answers to his questions; a solution for every problem. Maybe something was written between the lines of the many notes they'd exchanged. It was worth one more look.

***

  



End file.
